Solic 200 problems

[intheshire]

Hi all looking for some advice please


I have installed a wireless solic 200 , it seems to be having some issues

A) almost every day it switches into 'overheat' mode , two red lights on the box , won't come back on until breaker is tripped on and off , or you have to press the boost button twice

B) it's importing power , at least according to the smart meter , between 80w-170w all the time it's running


We have a basic old fashioned grid tie PV system, 4kw of panels, 3.6kw sma sunny boy inverter, no batteries or anything like that

Solic is wired in correctly , I have triple checked, CT clamp is round the meter tails in the consumer unit , arrow is in the correct direction,

Other than there two issues it's actually working great , fantastic to have free hot water ( well almost free with it importing for some reason! )


Have I got a faulty unit? Any suggestions/ advice appreciated!

 

[intheshire]

Curiouser and curiouser


Solic 200 turned on , making hot water, full sun on the solar

Smart meter says we are importing 100w-160w

Amp clamp on the meter tails reads 6.7~ amps , 6.8x240v=1632w ... 1.63kw . Obviously doesn't tell me which direction the amps are going

I am confused !

 

[intheshire]

Now importing 210w , but clamp says 3.8amps (907w)!

 

[Murdoch]

Do the lights all show green on the Solic ?

 

[binky]

Did you run through the set up procedure correctly?

 

[intheshire]

Do the lights all show green on the Solic ?

Yes , both lights on solic show green , wireless sender light flashes red/green when working , as expected

Did you run through the set up procedure correctly?

Yes if I remember right you have to calibrate the thing by turning PV off , and run something in the house like a kettle so it learns which way is which


I followed it step by step , but there is a chance I've missed something?



Thank you both

 

[Murdoch]

What wireless sender?

 

[intheshire]

What wireless sender?

Wireless sender unit

 

[Murdoch]

Didn't know they offered that now.

Gone off Solic as their after sales service sucks ...........

 

[stuboy]

Didn't know they offered that now.

Gone off Solic as their after sales service sucks ...........

Understatement of the year!

 

[Murdoch]

Understatement of the year!

My mate fixed mine for under a tenner.

His opinion is the part he changed wasn't sourced from a decent manufacturer - so made on the cheap to fail.

 

[stuboy]

ditto, except it was several parts on the last one i looked at :-(

 

[intheshire]

Brilliant that is not what I wanted to hear about solic lol !!!!

 

[Murdoch]

I suspect your "draw" from the grid is due to the inverter needing to monitor the incoming voltage.

100 w 8 hours isn't really an issue IMHO

 

[intheshire]

I suspect your "draw" from the grid is due to the inverter needing to monitor the incoming voltage.

100 w 8 hours isn't really an issue IMHO

about 1 KWh , or £0.35 , I don't know about you but that's a good chunk of my electric bill lol !

 

[Murdoch]

But is it really 100 watts per hour ?

 

[intheshire]

But is it really 100 watts per hour ?

I guess the only way to tell is to turn everything else in the house off and run just the solic & PV for a day

 

[binky]

Yes , both lights on solic show green , wireless sender light flashes red/green when working , as expected



Yes if I remember right you have to calibrate the thing by turning PV off , and run something in the house like a kettle so it learns which way is which


I followed it step by step , but there is a chance I've missed something?



Thank you both

Possibly other loads in the house running at the time, like your computer or fridge. It's been quite a while since I fitted one of these, but I would repeat the calibration procedure with everything turned off bar a load like the kettle - you can do that by switching MCBs off in the board to make life easier.

 

[stuboy]

I think they calibrate themselves, as the CT input just looks for a sign change in current flow. The quick way to do it is as per instructions but it is constantly monitoring so it has to adjust anyway, else it would be useless. I set one of the old ones up for a customer using the other mode where it has to be exporting X watts (100W in that case) before diverting to ensure their battery had charge priority without any complicated shenanigans.
Cheers
Stu